Are Walnuts an Alkaline Food? Do You Know All Nine Benefits and Effects of Walnuts?

Walnuts often appear in our daily lives, and we all know that walnuts have very high nutritional value. So do you know are walnuts an alkaline food? The nine benefits and effects of walnuts?

1. Are walnuts an alkaline food?

Walnuts are an alkaline food. Walnuts belong to the nut category, and nuts are all alkaline foods.

The acidity or alkalinity of a food has nothing to do with its own pH value (a food that tastes sour is not necessarily an acidic food); it is mainly defined by whether the food, after being digested, absorbed and metabolised, finally becomes an acidic or alkaline substance in the human body. Foods that produce acidic substances are called acidic foods, such as animal offal, muscle and plant seeds (the five grains). Foods that produce alkaline substances are called alkaline foods, such as vegetables, melons and beans, tea, and so on.

500 grams of walnut kernels are equivalent in nutritional value to 2500 grams of eggs or 4750 grams of milk, and they are particularly rich in calcium, iron, vitamin B1, vitamin B2 and other components that benefit the nerve cells of the brain.

2. What benefits and effects do walnuts have?

1. Promoting blood circulation: walnuts can prevent arteriosclerosis and its complications, high blood pressure, heart disease, heart failure, kidney failure and cerebral haemorrhage.

2. Improving digestive system function: walnuts contain large amounts of polyunsaturated fatty acids, abundant vitamin A, D, E, F, K and carotene and other fat-soluble vitamins, as well as antioxidants and many other components, and they contain no cholesterol, so the human body's digestion and absorption rate is extremely high. They can reduce gastric acid and prevent the occurrence of gastritis and duodenal ulcers; they can also stimulate bile secretion and activate the vigour of pancreatic enzymes, so that oils are degraded and absorbed by the intestinal mucosa, thereby reducing the occurrence of cholecystitis and gallstones.

3. Protecting the skin: walnuts are rich in squalene, which has excellent affinity with the skin, and in essential fatty acids, are absorbed quickly and effectively maintain the skin's elasticity and moisture; the abundant monounsaturated fatty acids and vitamin E, K, A, D and phenolic antioxidants contained in walnuts can eliminate facial wrinkles, prevent skin ageing, and have effects such as skin and hair care and preventing and treating chapped hands and feet, making them a beauty and skincare product that can be “eaten”.

4. Improving endocrine system function: walnuts can enhance the metabolic function of organisms. The latest research results show that after healthy people eat walnuts, the glucose content in their bodies can decrease by 12%.

5. Benefits for the skeletal system: the natural antioxidants and ω-3 fatty acids in walnuts help the human body absorb minerals such as calcium, phosphorus and zinc, and can promote bone growth; in addition, ω-3 fatty acids help maintain bone density and reduce osteoporosis caused by free radicals (highly active molecules).

6. Anti-cancer effect: because walnuts are rich in monounsaturated fatty acids and polyunsaturated fatty acids, the ω-3 fatty acids among the polyunsaturated fatty acids can reduce the amount of linoleic acid that tumours extract from the blood, depriving the tumour of a nutrient it very much needs.

7. Anti-radiation effect: because walnuts contain polyphenols and lipopolysaccharides, walnuts also have an anti-radiation function, so walnut foods are often used to make food for astronauts. People who use computers frequently regard them as an excellent product for health care and skincare.

8. Anti-ageing effect: among the many components of walnuts, carotene and chlorophyll give walnuts their golden colour, and chlorophyll plays a metabolic role, promoting cell growth and accelerating wound healing. It also helps beautify a person's appearance and reduce the formation of wrinkles.

9. Preventing cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases: walnuts can protect the cardiovascular system in many ways.

3. Friendly Reminders

1. Because walnuts contain a relatively large amount of fat, eating too many at one time will affect digestion.

2. Some people like to peel off the brown thin skin on the surface of walnut kernels, but this will lose part of the nutrition, so do not peel off this thin skin.

3. They should be taken in an appropriate amount, over the long term and consistently: although the fat contained in walnut kernels is unsaturated fatty acid that helps remove cholesterol, fat itself has a very high calorie content; if eaten in excess and not fully utilised, it will be stored by the human body as cholesterol, with the opposite effect to what is intended. Generally speaking, the weight of walnut kernels taken each day should be around 20-40 grams, roughly equivalent to four or five walnuts. At the same time, other fat intake should be appropriately reduced to avoid an excessively high calorie intake.

4. Walnuts are very heating and contain a lot of oil; eating too many can make people suffer from excessive internal heat and nausea, so people who currently have excessive internal heat or diarrhoea should not eat them.

5. Eating four walnuts a day can treat gallstones.